Stuck as a Dungeon Mob

A few minutes before A's mad dash for Var Agus, the lizardmen group that was previously interrupted were being loomed over by doom.

The strange sound they heard previously now had an origin.

"Argh!" But the shadow of death did not loom for eternity, eventually it rained down on the lizardmen and enacted its cruel verdict.

Death.

The lizardmen had been sentenced to death.

Blood-red tentacles squirmed around the marshlands, they erupted out of the ground and water with what appeared to be no rhyme or reason. The lizardmen were not shocked, they were instead simultaneously dumbfounded and awestruck.

How large did the gauntlet beast become? How many creatures did it wring dry? The quantity of blood that it sucked… wasn't it frightening to reach these heights? Some couldn't help but ask themselves these questions despite being in a life or death situation.

Others were more cool-headed, or hot headed? They looked at the bloody tentacles dead in the non-existing eyes.

"Fight!" A lizardman shouted while pointing their spear at one of the imposing blood crimson tentacles. Certainly, their actions couldn't be described as cool-headed but their shout did oddly enough prove effective. 

The tentacle froze. It froze entirely, it literally turned into rock-hard ice.

"Hahaha! Terrified! Eat this!"  The lizardman felt boastful as they charged forward with unwavering courage.

"No! Stop!" Most of the smarter lizardman immediately noticed that there was a problem with this charge.

While the blood tentacle appeared to be nothing more than a giant popsicle, appearances could be deceiving and this was one of those times.

The tentacle started quivering softly.

It was a hardly noticeable movement at first but it thereafter turned erratic and clear. It was here when the lizardman's spear reached the icy tentacle and thrust past- 

The tentacle combusted into a blinding explosion.

"Die-" The offending lizardman who had thought of the freezing as an opportunity was by then too close to protect themselves. In the end, their words were left caught in their throat.

It was a pity, they wanted to say more but all they could hear was an odd gurgle. Right, as it turned out his words weren't stuck in his throat, it was something else entirely.

The lizardman's vision became blurry and bloodied and their body quickly grew weak. They collapsed to the ground exposing their body for all to behold.

They were full of blood-red spikes, no they were bloody shards of ice. These shards of ice were not just on this lizardman however, they could also be seeing stuck onto the ground and having fallen into the water.

The gauntlet beast had just performed an area of effect attack, and if it weren't for the lizardman's reckless charge, everyone would have been forced to suffer the brunt of the attack.

Yet, it was too early to feel relieved, they were still in a forest of bloody trees.

"Run!" "AAAAH!!!" All of these bloody trees squirmed before freezing over and beginning their song and dance.

Icy shards powered by the explosion sunk rapidly past the lizardmen's tough scales and prickled their every zone. All of a sudden, the emergence of these tentacles had a rhyme and reason.

They quivered in unison one after another composing an eerie song.

An explosive sound. 

Followed by another... And another!

The sounds of explosions rang out endlessly in the marshlands. But competing with this endless symphony were the cries of the damned.

Yes the damned, for those unfortunate enough to be caught in these attacks felt as each shard of bloody ice prickled their organs. Not just that, but they heard the warbled cries of those whose throat was drowning in their own blood even amidst the deafening explosions.

The expressions of these lizardmen could not be described as ugly as they breathed their last breath, they were in a horrifying way… picturesque.

Every lizardman was able to see a final snapshot of this picturesque scene before becoming a terrified subject in the picture of another.

Soon enough, the waters had grown calm and still and the stench of blood had seemed to disappear without a trace. The only traces of the battlefield that remained were the holes gouged in the ground by the erratic shards or the footprints of the fleeing lizardmen.

Elsewhere, Var Agus was leading a group of 5 lizardmen tribes. The numbers were surprisingly few considering that there were these many groups but it was to be expected having come out of a war.

That aside, these groups were patiently waiting for another combined group in order to merge into a final group.

"…We might need to move on" Var Agus said to his assistant with a noticeable frown.

"They should be just about here by now" Var Agus added.

The only way this group couldn't reach their location would be if something came up. Knowing this, some tribe leaders near Var Agus heard his words and frowned.

"If they are in trouble we should check on them and help" One suggested.

"Hahaha!" Var Agus suddenly burst into laughter which was needless to say entirely out of character.

"The whole point of this march is to get away from the trouble, why would we go there?!" Var Agus lashed out feeling irrationally angry. 

Var was trying so hard to keep these fellows alive but they couldn't help themselves from courting death! What could about death could possibly be so alluring!?!

"Var, do you really think that way?! Isn't that too cowardly and heartless!?" Another lashed out in return. Var Agus really had it at this point though.

"Cowardly, heartless...  Aren't most of us individuals that ran away from our home tribes when Kurgher came knocking!?!" Var Agus shouted out causing the tribe leaders to freeze.

"This- This is different!" A strong lizardman retorted.

"How so? Why do you suddenly care about upholding your dignity?" The new tribes were mainly composed of the ones that ran away, all the leaders fell under this category, and the surrendered rebels captured from the final battle. Neither had any right to speak about cowardice!

"We are moving out! I don't care if you call me a coward because at least then you'd be alive to call me out at all!" Var Agus declared before turning away from the tribe leaders.

"Var Agus... Did you think we'd just follow your every word?" The strong lizardman from earlier asked solemnly, Var Agus had a bad feeling.

"When was the last time that the mushroom god came along, uh?" The lizardman continued.

"You've been abandoned, haven't you? No, we all have! How come we haven't heard God's words in a long while?!" The lizardman concluded with a shout.

"That's- That's blasphemy!" Var Agus turned back and said infuriated. They could speak ill of him but how could they speak ill of the mushroom god?!

But the words that the lizardman said were rather logical. Analyzing the situation, the voice of god seemed to at some point just up and disappear. Was it possible that the mushroom god had really died?

Ever since the mushroom god's supposed revival near the underground settlement they hadn't heard the voice. Was it possible that the mushroom god was now just a husk of its former self?

There were a lot of plausible theories to explain this phenomenon, it was a matter of which one to believe in at this point. That being the case, why not believe in the one most beneficial and convenient to oneself?

"Var Agus, you've been fooling us haven't you!? You can't hear God's voice at all!" Var Agus was supposedly the only capable of communicating with the mushroom god and how could they confidently say it was the truth?

"Do you think I have the power to make such powerful warriors?! Do you think I have the power to accidentally create the beast that is hunting us down!?" Var Agus couldn't believe his ears. Did these lizardmen forget all the things that had transgressed in the past few days and weeks?!

It was funny, but the only reason why things came to this was solely the fact that Ed had lost his transmission skill. His subsequent decisions of teaching only a few divine blood warriors also did not help the situation. Not just that, but his reasoning that only conversing with Var Agus would elevate the latter's status was clearly flawed.

From the point of view of the other lizardmen, there was definitely some higher power at play but… was it really the work of a god? Was Eon not a divine entity? How did they perish then?

The lizardmen's devotion to divine beings was wavering, and their willingness to remain under Var Agus was similarly waning.

It was here when Var Agus received a timely question.

'Var Agus, how are things over there? Help is waiting for you in the caverns' Their god's transmission!

'It's bad, one of the groups is late and now we are having internal strife!' Var Agus shouted helplessly in his mind.

"Hey!" Var Agus was then suddenly grabbed by one of the tribe leaders.

"What do you think you are doing while we-" The tribe leader however was quickly shutdown.

The divine blood warrior of Mole, Kouzzo shoved aside the tribe leader with the blunt end of his spear.

"Watch yourself!" He warned with a sharp glare. 

The tension in the marshlands instantly rose and the regular lizardmen who were embroiled in the mess didn't know who to side with leaving them agape at the sudden development.